5th and 6th Class: English

Shape Poems

Today Múinteoir Clíona told us all about calligrams, also known as "shape poems".

A calligram is a poem in which the formation of the letters or the font selected, represents an aspect of the poem's subject.

If that seems complicated have a look at these examples:

If a poem is about something old, the letters might look like they are crumbling.
A poem about growth might have each letter written in a progressively larger font size.
A poem about fear might be written in shaky letters to represent trembling.
A poem about a snail might be written in a spiral shape, to imitate the shape of its shell.
A poem set in France might be in the shape of the Eiffel Tower.

Calligram

This is a very simple calligram of the phrase, "I love you"

List some ways that the writer has made this a calligram:

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You can download the full lesson in this activity sheet!

Choose one of the following words:

Use lines and arrows to connect your ideas.
Fear The big game
Animal Country
Excitement Household object
Anger

Write the topic in the space below and do some word association i.e. write whatever pops into your head around the circle. Use lines and arrows to connect your ideas.

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Now write a short poem, based on your work above, here:

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Now it's time to turn your poem into a calligram!

Some tips:
What is the theme of this poem?
What colours could represent what the poem is about?
Are there any shapes within the poem, that could be incorporated into the calligram?
What is the feeling behind the poem?

One word calligrams!

Often, a single word or short phrase can be turned into a calligram. Perhaps the word is written into the shape of the object or an object related to it.

You often see this in company logos, where there is some imagery incorporated into the text.

Have a look at these clever examples and notice how the artist has turned the word into a mini-calligram…